Case - Tasty Pretzels Tasty Pretzels is a family owned company located in the Prairies. It was founded in 1960 by Eric Segal who would stack up his Van with packets of the homemade Pretzels and do the rounds of the neighborhood markets to sell his Pretzels. Today, Tasty Pretzels is a $21 million company that is trying to recover the ground it lost to competitors selling healthier options. In the early nineties, Eric handed over the business onto his son, Adam who is currently grooming his daughter, Mary, to succeed him as head of the company. Seven months ago, Mary joined Tasty Pretzels as a salesperson and after six months was quickly promoted to sales manager. Mary recently graduated from a local university having studied Business Administration. Following this, Adam had hired Mary and wanted her to implement strategies that could help change the company's fortunes by regaining lost ground. One of Mary's initial strategies was to introduce a new sales performance management system. As part of this approach, any salesperson who receives a below average performance rating would be required to attend a mandatory coaching session with his/her supervisor. Mary is hoping that these coaching sessions will motivate her employees to increase their sales. Following their low performance in the previous quarter, three salespersons were required to attend the coaching session. Their respective responses to this requirement are as under: 1. Nancy Drew Nancy is a hard worker who takes pride in her work ethic. She has spent a lot of time reading the training material and learning selling techniques, viewing training videos on her own time and accompanying top sales people on their calls. Nancy has no problem asking for advice and doing whatever needs to be done to learn the business. Everyone agrees that Nancy has a cheery attitude and is a real "team player", giving the company 150% at all times. It has been a tough quarter for Nancy due to the downturn in the economy, but she is doing her best to make sales for the company. Nancy doesn't feel that failure to achieve her target during this past quarter is due to lack of effort, but just bad luck in the economy. She is hopeful that things will turn-around in the next quarter. Nancy is upset with Mary for having to attend the coaching session because this is the first time in three years that her sales quota has not been met. Although Nancy is willing to do whatever it takes to be successful, she is concerned that the coaching sessions will be held on a Saturday. Doesn't Mary realize that Nancy has to raise three boys by herself and that weekends are an important time for her family? Because Nancy is a dedicated employee she will somehow manage to rearrange the family's schedule. Nancy is now very concerned about how her efforts are being perceived by Mary. After all, she exceeded the sales target from the previous quarter, yet had not received a "thank you" or" good job" for those efforts. The entire experience has left Nancy unmotivated and questioning her future with the company.

Questions*: 1. You have met three employees of Tasty Pretzels. Explain how each employee's situation relates to the Equity Theory. (9 marks) 2. Describe the three needs isolated by McClelland (Acquired Needs). How are they related to worker behavior in each situation? (9 marks) 3. Compare and contrast the three relationships of Expectancy Theory. To which employee situation does each apply? (12 marks)